For Fans, Obstacles On The Road

Traffic on Alligator Alley got worse before it got better on Thursday as fans of the band called Phish continued their migration into the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

By late Thursday afternoon, as the three-day New Year's Eve concert was under way, Florida Highway Patrol reported traffic was backed up 2 miles on westbound Interstate 75, and eastbound traffic had returned to normal. By nightfall, traffic on all of Alligator Alley was flowing again.

With 75,000 tickets sold, the concert is billed as one of the biggest New Year's Eve parties in the country. But getting there definitely was not half the fun for fans who spent hours stranded in miles-long traffic jams on Alligator Alley, waiting to get to the concert site.

The traffic tie-ups began on Wednesday, when fans started heading to the campsite, hoping to get there early.

Broward County Fire-Rescue responded to 21 concert-related emergency calls in the past two days, Assistant Chief John Schildknecht said. Fifteen of those calls came on Wednesday.

One fan, Michael D. Price, was charged with DUI manslaughter when his friend, Robert Hickey, fell from the recreational vehicle they were in and died. Hickey, who was riding on top of the vehicle, slipped and fell onto the road and was run over by the vehicle, according to the FHP. Investigators said both men had been drinking.

Both Price and Hickey came from Boulder, Colo. Their ages were not available.

Thursday's most serious injury stemmed from a car accident at mile marker 58, Schildknecht said. A male victim was flown to Broward General Medical Center, where he was admitted and being kept overnight for observation, a hospital spokeswoman said. The fan was in good condition.

In addition to avoiding car wrecks, motorists faced other obstacles.

"We shut our car off for hours," said Linz Kelner, 19, of Northern California, who was stuck for almost two hours in a traffic jam that didn't budge. "We didn't want to keep the engine running because we didn't know how long we would be stranded and we didn't want to run out of gas."

That turned out to be a smart move. FHP sent service vehicles out to help motorists whose engines were idling long enough to empty their gas tanks.

In standstill traffic on Alligator Alley 1 mile from the Snake Road exit, Jeff Orrell, 24, unhooked a bicycle from the roof rack on his SUV and borrowed a gas can from another motorist.

"It's not my first time seeing Phish," said Orrell, a veteran of seven or eight shows. "But it's my first one without gas."

Gas stations along the eastern end of I-75 reported a surge in business as "Phish heads" paused to refuel vehicles and stomachs -- or just take a break from the road.

"It was busy," said Arnaldo Ricciulli, owner of the Coastal gas station at the Sawgrass Expressway and Commercial Boulevard. "We had 30 percent or more volume."

Ricciulli said crowds hung around his station talking and resting for two or three hours at a time on Wednesday.

Shannon O'Boye, Robert Nolin, Sean Piccoli and Karla Schuster contributed to this report.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4207.